Installing Power BI Designer Preview Experience

Today Microsoft announced the new Power BI features including the new Power BI Designer tool that provides a separate downloadable standalone application that can be used for Power BI features such as Power Query and Power View!  This is completely separate from Excel – now users can connect to data, relate data, create reports, and also import them to Power BI dashboards to share!

So in this example I was able to connect to an existing Excel file I had with some preloaded data (Customer and Geography tables), relate the data (queries) together, create a report (as you can see there are new visualizations available such as treemap, gauge, filled map, funnel, combo chart, etc.), and save the file locally (pibx file extension).

Now that I have a Power BI file with a report I can go to the Power BI Dashboard site and upload this file to share the content.

Once you get the report loaded you can then continue your design experience, pin items to a dashboard, and share (within your own organization for now)!  All of this is done in HTML5, so no worries about Silverlight.

Quite a few of the new visualizations are not supported to be pinned yet, but at some point they will, so hold on.

Very cool, a whole new user and sharing experience!

There is also a ton of great help and support documentation, videos, and walkthroughs available as well

Enjoy and thanks to the Power BI team!

Speaking: MindSurf Conference–Oct 9

The 7th Annual MindSurf conference in Minneapolis is just two weeks away and I will be speaking there in the Office Technology Track!  I will be talking about empowering data analysts using Excel and the Power BI features including Power Query and Power Map.

Delivering Self-Service BI with Power
8:15–9:45

Dan English, Superior Consulting Services
Session Level: 200 – Intermediate
Audience: Business analysts

In this session, we will discuss the new additions made available to Excel as Microsoft continues its roadmap with self-service BI. You will see how Microsoft has empowered you to discover, analyze and visualize data all on your own. We will use Power Query to load and integrate data into a model that can then be analyzed and enhanced with Power Pivot. From there, we will dive into Power Map; you will see how to visualize and create tours of your data to explore and share your insights!

Along with me presenting at MindSurf my fellow colleague and BI team member Eric Ness will also be presenting in the Business Analysis Track on forecasting!

Forecasting: Methods and Benefits
1:15–2:30

Eric Ness, Superior Consulting Services
Session Level: 200 – Intermediate
Audience: Business analysts, data analysts

Forecasting techniques gives business analysts a peek behind the scenes of what will happen to the business in the future. Forecasting can be used with any quantitative amount that fluctuates over time, such as revenue or costs. Recently, software vendors have released tools that hide the complexity of the techniques behind automatic tests and a graphical interface. This session will discuss the methods and benefits of forecasting as well as an overview of available software.

In total there are 8 tracks with 32 sessions and 29 speakers!  Check out the event here – MindSurf Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

PASS Business Analytics VC Meeting–May 29

The next PASS Business Analytics Virtual Chapter meeting is coming up next week. This month’s meeting is going to be talking about Power Query.

Here are the meeting details:

Date: Thursday, May 29

Time: 4 to 5 p.m. (CDT)

Session: As data sources proliferate integration is becoming a key part of the analytical toolkit. Join Lee on a fact seeking journey as he uses Power Query to integrate and shape data.

Outline
1. Self service data integration – fact or fiction?
2. Power Query 101
3. Introduction to M
4. Data Enrichment

Presenter: Lee Hawthorn (b|t) is a Chartered Management Accountant who is responsible for BI and planning and analysis. Lee has worked on several BI projects. His battle scars have healed since Power BI arrived in his tray.

RSVP URL: http://bit.ly/PASSBAVC052914

IMDb Analysis with Microsoft Power BI

The Microsoft Power BI Contest entry submission ended today and this morning I worked on my video and got my entry posted.  For my entry I ended up going with the Top 250 rated movies on IMDb.  Last year when I was testing out “Data Explorer” (now called Power Query) I did a blog posting that highlighted this set of data along with some Power View reports here – Installing Data Explorer Preview Demo with IMDb Data. 

Since that post, which was back in March 2013, the data on the web page has changed (ratings of course, but the data available).  Like now the vote counts were not included in the table on the web page.  Also, I was using an external site to get some XML data to reference for additional information about the movies, well that changed to, so I did get to freshen up the demo a bit.  I also had to prepare some additional items for the Office 365, Power BI, Q&A, and I did setup a Windows 8 Power BI demo.

For our entries we were limited to only 10 minutes, so by no means are these going to be an end-to-end instruction guide.  I didn’t go into a deep analysis of the data, what I was trying to demonstrate was the ability to go from a basic web page of data to a fully decked out analysis tool.  I used Excel 2013, Power Query, Power Pivot, Pivot Charts and Tables, Power View, Office 365, Power BI, and the latest Q&A, so I was trying to show off as much as I could and stay within the timeframe provided.  I also had a demo to show off the Windows 8 Power BI app, but I wasn’t sure the Camtasia video capture software would capture the app demo since it was running on my desktop (will need to test that).

Here is the entry on Facebook (view in full screen to get better resolution – also turn the volume up) – IMDb Analysis with Microsoft Power BI.

Action Item (please help and vote – Jan 20 thru 30)

Starting next week on Monday, January 20 the entries will be open for public voting.  I would appreciate all of the support you could provide (please vote, and pass it on to co-workers, family, relatives, family, etc.).  The voting will run through Thursday, January 30.  Then 10 out of the 61 entries will move on the semi-finals!  So I need all of the support you can provide.  Thanks so much!